The Wizard of Menlo Park

The Wizard of Menlo Park
Author :
Publisher : Crown
Total Pages : 394
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781400047635
ISBN-13 : 1400047633
Rating : 4/5 (35 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Wizard of Menlo Park by : Randall E. Stross

Download or read book The Wizard of Menlo Park written by Randall E. Stross and published by Crown. This book was released on 2008-03-25 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas Edison’s greatest invention? His own fame. At the height of his fame Thomas Alva Edison was hailed as “the Napoleon of invention” and blazed in the public imagination as a virtual demigod. Starting with the first public demonstrations of the phonograph in 1878 and extending through the development of incandescent light and the first motion picture cameras, Edison’s name became emblematic of all the wonder and promise of the emerging age of technological marvels. But as Randall Stross makes clear in this critical biography of the man who is arguably the most globally famous of all Americans, Thomas Edison’s greatest invention may have been his own celebrity. Edison was certainly a technical genius, but Stross excavates the man from layers of myth-making and separates his true achievements from his almost equally colossal failures. How much credit should Edison receive for the various inventions that have popularly been attributed to him—and how many of them resulted from both the inspiration and the perspiration of his rivals and even his own assistants? This bold reassessment of Edison’s life and career answers this and many other important questions while telling the story of how he came upon his most famous inventions as a young man and spent the remainder of his long life trying to conjure similar success. We also meet his partners and competitors, presidents and entertainers, his close friend Henry Ford, the wives who competed with his work for his attention, and the children who tried to thrive in his shadow—all providing a fuller view of Edison’s life and times than has ever been offered before. The Wizard of Menlo Park reveals not only how Edison worked, but how he managed his own fame, becoming the first great celebrity of the modern age.


The Wizard of Menlo Park Related Books

The Wizard of Menlo Park
Language: en
Pages: 394
Authors: Randall E. Stross
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2008-03-25 - Publisher: Crown

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Thomas Edison’s greatest invention? His own fame. At the height of his fame Thomas Alva Edison was hailed as “the Napoleon of invention” and blazed in the
Edison's Electric Light
Language: en
Pages: 247
Authors: Robert Friedel
Categories: Technology & Engineering
Type: BOOK - Published: 2010-07-19 - Publisher: JHU Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In September 1878, Thomas Alva Edison brashly—and prematurely—proclaimed his breakthrough invention of a workable electric light. That announcement was foll
Timeless Thomas
Language: en
Pages: 40
Authors: Gene Barretta
Categories: Juvenile Nonfiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2012-07-17 - Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

What do record players, batteries, and movie cameras have in common? All these devices were created by the man known as The Wizard of Menlo Park: Thomas Edison.
The Wizard of Menlo Park, New Jersey
Language: en
Pages: 0
Authors: Cheri Pray Earl
Categories:
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014-06-27 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

During the coldest winter ever, George and Gracie land in Menlo Park, New Jersey, 1879--near Thomas Edison's famous laboratory. Mr. Edison has just invented a l
Edison
Language: en
Pages: 801
Authors: Edmund Morris
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From Pulitzer Prize-winning author Morris comes a revelatory new biography ofThomas Alva Edison, the most prolific genius in American history.